Free Love Me by Jillian Dodd Page B

tell him what Vincent is doing. How there’s no freaking way I could be on TV. I decide to change the subject. “Riley told me earlier today that Coach is making you kick for both the JV and Varsity games this week. Even though it’s supposed to rain, I’m coming to the game.”
    “Don’t you have rehearsal?”
    “I get to skip again. They’re still working through their lines.”
    “Really? That’s cool . . .” Then he stops. “Are you going with Dawson?”
    “Well, yeah, there’s a bunch of us going.”
    “I heard you were at the Cave last night.”
    “How did you hear that?”
    “Dallas said something to Riley about it earlier. Sorry, I’m not stalking you or anything.”
    I think about Dawson. How cute he is when he stalks me. Meeting me after classes. How it makes me feel when I walk out of my dorm and see him sitting on the brick wall. Maybe he just has a different way of wooing.
    “Okay,” I say, not sure where this is going.
    “Did you kiss him?”
    “Who?”
    “Dallas. Did you get high and kiss?”
    “Um, we got high . . .”
    He locks his teeth together and looks mad. 
    Annie comes rushing in, sliding quickly into her desk. “Oh, I thought I was going to be late. What’d I miss?”
    From behind me Aiden says, “Nothing good.”
    Shit. He is mad at me.
    Again.
    And he didn’t let me finish my freaking sentence.
    Again. 
    I turn around. I don’t care that Miss Praline has started talking. 
    I madly cross my arms in front of my chest and say, “I thought you were going to start letting me finish my sentences before you jump to conclusions?”
    “And I thought . . .” He stops. “Never mind.”
    My voice gets louder. “No. There’s not going to be a never mind. I’m sick of it.”
    Miss Praline says, “Keatyn? Aiden? Is there a problem?”
    “Yes, actually there is,” I say. “I’m feeling sick. May I go to the nurse’s office?”
    She narrows her eyes at me as I put on my sick face. Slack face, sad eyes, slightly lowered head. 
    “Of course, Keatyn,” she says. 
    I throw my books in my bag and walk out the door.
     
    I don’t go to the nurse’s office. I toss my pass into the trash and race to the field house. 
    I change into my workout clothes and then go to town on the punching bag. I never promised not to pretend punch his head. Besides, probably better to pretend punch it than punch it for real. 
    I’m kicking the shit out of the bag when Cooper Steele saunters in. “You’re doing that wrong.”
    “What do you mean, I’m doing it wrong?”
    He walks behind me, reaches over my shoulders, grabs my hands, and pulls them back in toward my waist. When he does this, I’m thrust back against his rock solid body. 
    He turns my hands over so that my palms are facing upward. Then he pushes them forward and flips them as they reach the bag.
    “That’s how to throw a proper punch. Shouldn’t you be in class?”
    “I was feeling sick?”
    “Looks to me like you’re feeling pissed.”
    I sigh. “That too.”
    He knits his brows together, thinking. “Come into my office. We need to get to know each other better.”
    “That’s pretty forward of you, Mr. Steele,” I say with a smirk. 
    He gives me a coach’s smack on the butt. “Get going.”
    Is it bad that I totally just pictured Cooper Steele tying me to a bed and spanking me? 
    Okay, Keatyn. That’s it. No more reading naughty romances on your phone during school. 
    He grabs me by the arm and drags me toward his office. 
    And I can’t help it. 
    I like it. 
    I have a stupid grin on my face when Whitney comes around the corner. “Uh, Mr. Steele, I was just coming to see you. We have a meeting to discuss the competitions for this weekend’s Greek events.”
    “It’ll have to wait. What was your name again?”
    Whitney looks startled. Shocked, really. Isn’t every male on the planet supposed to know her name?
    “Um, it’s Whitney. Whitney Clarke. I’m on the Social Committee. We have an